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	From the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation

	Trade unionists around the world will mobilize during the week of February 19-25, calling on the Mexican government to stop its attack on workers and implement steps to allow for workers to organize independent democratic trade unions of their choosing. 
	 
	Last year more than 50,000 union members, students and human rights activists from some 40 countries participated in the Global Days of Action, launched on February 14 in Mexico and Australia simultaneously. For six days union members came together in an unprecedented show of solidarity. Thousands of letters were sent to the Mexican government, more than 50 meetings were held at Mexican Embassies throughout the world, and massive demonstrations throughout the week, inside and outside of Mexico, marked the strength and urgency of our message: STOP the attack on workers, we demand Trade Union Rights in Mexico, NOW! 
	 
	The impact of our global actions were felt around the world. On February 24, just weeks after Global Action Days launched, political prisoner Juan Linares of the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union of Mexico was released from jail after being unjustly imprisoned for more than two years. Building on our 2011 actions, independent unions in Mexico, together with their respective global union partners, have come together as a movement of force, challenging retrogressive labour legislation, Mexico&rsquo;s scandalous &ldquo;Protection Contract&rdquo; system, and exposing corporate and political corruption.

	<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="113" />

	Despite an escalation in action and outcry from unions in Mexico and at the international level, workers continue to be denied fundamental rights, independent unions face violent and political attack, and corporate impunity is at an all time high. 
	 
	During the week of February 19-25, 2012, in honour of the Pasta de Conchos miners who died in a mine blast on February 19, 2006, members of the international labour movement are again asked to take action. 
	 
	POSSIBLE ACTIONS INCLUDE:

	Request a meeting with Mexican Embassy/Consulate representatives to discuss trade union rights in Mexico.
<ul>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Organize a small delegation to deliver a statement or letter to your local Mexican Embassy/Consulate.</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Send a letter to your local Mexican Embassy/Consulate.</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Engage national policy makers to join meetings with</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Embassy representatives or to send similar letters to the Government of Mexico.</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Publicize actions taken in defense of trade union rights in Mexico on your union&rsquo;s website and in its publications.</div>
	</li>
</ul>

	Print-ready posters and model letters are available to be used for actions and mobilizations. Posters are available in English, French, Spanish and Russian. The original In design artwork file is also available upon request if you wish to add logos or additional information, contact: <a href="mailto:unionrights@imfmetal.org">unionrights@imfmetal.org</a>. Model letters are available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and German. 
	 
	Please be sure to keep us informed of all actions taken, send photos, letters, and reports to: <a href="mailto:unionrights@imfmetal.org">unionrights@imfmetal.org</a> and <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>.

Mexico Days of Action 2012, February 19-25

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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice-President Sergio Novais, and Regional Contact Person Carol Bruce conducted a mission to Ecuador, Colombia, and Costa Rica from 13 to 20 January 2010 to visit affiliates, make new contacts and attend a Social Dialogue conference in Colombia. 
 
The ICEM mission started the round in Ecuador on 13 January and the next day the Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union was visited. This union was instrumental in creating the new confederation of public sector workers, which is made up of 70,000 members in the electricity sector, as well as in health, the oil industry, national telephone, public workers, education and transport. It took three years to build the confederation. 
<img alt="" src="" width="253" height="160" />
The most innovative factor about the confederation is a new approach, moving from protest to proposal. In the meantime, the realization has arisen that tripartite dialogue is necessary. The idea is to develop the state with workers&rsquo; participation. The confederation supports the process of the citizens&rsquo; revolution. It broadcasts a radio program to educate and inform workers. Steps are being taken to limit outsourcing according to the recent legislation. 
 
ICEM can expect to receive an application for affiliation from the Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union of Ecuador in the near future. 
 
The delegation arrived in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on 15 January. The social dialogue conference was held the next day and the only employer that attended were two managers from the Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n mine, who praised the cooperation with ICEM which has enabled the mine to enjoy labor peace. The unions who participated were Sintraelecol, Sintragasquimed, Sintracarb&oacute;n, Sintravidricol, Sintracarcol, Fenaltec and USO, as well as the IMF affiliate, Sintracerramotoso. 
 
These conferences have been going on since 2004. One recurring theme is sub-contracting. The question is to know whether conflicts are solvable on the basis of dialogue and whether dialogue has contributed to collective bargaining. Social dialogue is an innovative process in a country marked by entrenched violence. The idea is to contribute to peace in Colombia. 
 
Warda explained some of the Congress resolutions, especially concerning the creation of the new Global Union Federation. He stressed that Colombia would continue to be a priority. 
 
Novais clarified that the value of social dialogue is to continue to speak and negotiate regularly with the other side, and not just during wage negotiations. He explained that ICEM is working on multi-Latinas in the region to get workers organized in those companies. One priority in the region is networks, and 12 networks are up and running. It will be up to ICEM to pass our values and experience on to the new organisation. 
 
Philippe Potdevin from the Cerrej&oacute;n mine offered ICEM the possibility to develop an agreement along the lines of a Global Agreement based on the Global Compact. This might be an incentive for other companies in Colombia to take a greater interest in social dialogue, and he also indicated that he would urge other companies to work together with ICEM. 
<img alt="" src="" width="202" height="160" />
Manfred Warda, Rodolfo Vecino, Carlos Bustos
Two conflicts were mentioned in particular. First was the conflict with Rudolfo Vecino, President of USO, which fortunately was solved favourably with his reinstatement just before the delegation arrived in Colombia. The second is still pending and refers to the ex-President of Sintraelecol, Danuil Gomez, who is faced with death threats. His employer Gas Natural has been asked to transfer him to Bogot&aacute;, otherwise his life is in danger in C&oacute;rdoba. 
 
Marcelino Lopez, also from Sintraelecol, is also at similar risk. Some companies apparently work openly or covertly with paramilitaries in the dirty war. 
 
USO and Sintracerramatoso operate in areas that are controlled by the paramilitaries. It is very difficult for them to have access to workers. Union members are harassed and sacked and threatened and even killed, while many multinationals work with security companies that are linked to paramilitaries. The request is to organise a meeting for the unions in the energy and mining sectors to develop joint strategies to confront the government and to design a work plan. 
 
USO considers itself faced with annihilation of the union. Ecopetrol is facing privatization, and in addition, because of sub-contracting, there are six times more contract workers than direct employees, or 10,000 direct workers to 60,000 contractors. 
 
In conclusion, Warda summed up by proposing putting pressure on Endesa and Repsol to join the social dialogue process. His final comment, however, was a criticism of Colombian unions &ndash; something in their structures apparently stands in the way of women&rsquo;s participation. 
 
In the meantime, ICEM is attempting to put a forum together in Madrid where Spanish multinationals would pledge to reject violence in Colombia and to work toward eliminating the killing of trade unionists. The UGT Spanish foundation ISCOD is working with human rights lawyers in Colombia, and ICEM Colombia Coordinator Carlos Bustos will be invited to join them. 
<img alt="" src="" width="334" height="159" />
On 18 January, the delegation met with the board of Sitrapequia in San Jos&eacute;, Costa Rica. The discussion focused on the importance of public-sector unions in Costa Rica and the difficulty of organizing unions in the private sector. One possibility will be the attempt to organise the Bridgestone/Firestone plant in San Jos&eacute;, since there is an opening just now with the company manager for the Americas. This opportunity will be explored together with SUTNA, ICEM&rsquo;s rubber workers&rsquo; union affiliate from Argentina.

ICEM Mission Visits Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Some 360,000 Indian miners, many of them represented by the ICEM affiliate, the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INWF), have a new five-year labour agreement achieved under the National Coal Wage Agreement. The agreement with the world&rsquo;s largest coal company, state-owned Coal India Ltd. (CIL), and five unions calls for 25% wage increases over the term of the agreement. 
 
Signed on 31 January in Delhi, it is backdated to 1 July 2011. The agreement was finalised by the joint bipartite consultative committee (JBCC) on 27-28 January. 
<img src="" width="221" height="160" alt="" />
&ldquo;After discussions, the management agreed to a 25% minimum guaranteed benefits on gross wages,&rdquo; said General Secretary S Q Zama of INMF, affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). Along with Brother Zama, INMF and INTUC leaders Sanjeeva Reddy, Rajendra Prassad Singh, S Panigrahi, GVR Sarma, B Venkat Rao and R Algamkar took part in the signing. 
 
An increase in all basic allowances of 88% will take effect throughout the agreement, and higher housing allowances in non-urban areas and management substitution bonuses were also won for workers filling those roles. 
 
Further gains will be made when reports are submitted and agreed to on retirees&rsquo; medical benefits, and on aspects pertaining to contract workers. 
 
The other unions involved in this ninth set of National Coal Wage talks are affiliates of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), and the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The new accord will cost CIL US$788.6 million over the five-year period.

India’s Mine Unions, Coal India Reach 5-Year Labour Agreement

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ICEM Nordic Region Vice President Anders Ferbe was elected 1 February by IF Metall&rsquo;s Executive Board to serve as Acting President of Sweden&rsquo;s largest industrial union, replacing Stefan L&ouml;fven who stepped down 27 January to head the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. 
 
Ferbe, 57, had been IF Metall&rsquo;s First Vice President since 2008 and has been an ICEM Presidium member since 2007 when he was elected at the Fourth Statutory Congress in Bangkok. He will head the 355,000-member IF Metall going into the union&rsquo;s 2014 Congress, a key year with federal elections slated to occur in September 2014. 
 
L&ouml;fven, President of IF Metall since the union was formed on 1 January 2006 with the merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (Metall), was elected to head the country&rsquo;s once dominant Social Democrats by the party&rsquo;s Presidium 11 days ago. 
<img alt="" src="" width="141" height="160" />
Stefan L&ouml;fven
&ldquo;I am both humbled and honoured by the trust shown me,&rdquo; Ferbe said following last week&rsquo;s Board election. &ldquo;Our job to retain and create sustainable jobs is paramount. It means training, hard work and wages that are both fair and equal.&rdquo; IF Metall&rsquo;s board elected Veli-Pekka S&auml;ikk&auml;l&auml; to replace Ferbe as First Vice President. 
 
Ferbe is a native of J&ouml;nk&ouml;ping in southern Sweden and his work in the metal industry began there as an assembler at an industrial fan manufacturer now called Svenska Fl&auml;kfabriken. 
 
He held a number of local branch positions of Metall and in 1984, after six months working inside the union&rsquo;s training center, he took a Metall training and education position in the Stockholm headquarters in environmental education. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="80" />
In 1989, he began a 16-year career as the union&rsquo;s press and communications officer and upon the 2006 merger of Industrifacket and Metall, he was elected IF Metall&rsquo;s Second Vice President. A year earlier, he was elected to the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
Both Ferbe and L&ouml;fven will work to restore the strength of the Social Democratic Party inside Sweden. The Social Democrats were beaten in consecutive elections in 2006 and 2010 and the ICEM is confident that with a trade union leader heading the party, &ldquo;the Social Democratic Party once again will not only lead Sweden, but continue to serve as the stellar social model for all the world to follow,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda in a 26 January letter congratulating L&ouml;fven. (The full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/9.ICEM%20Stefan%20Lofven.26Jan.pdf ">ICEM letter</a> is here.) 
 
L&ouml;fven, 55, served as Vice President of Metall from 2002 until his election as the first President of IF Metall in 2006. The 55-year-old L&ouml;fven had been employed by Metall since 1995, first as a national bargaining officer, then as Secretary, and from 1999 to 2002 as head of the Organising Department. 
 
He was born in Stockholm but grew up in &Aring;dalen, &Aring;ngermanland, Sweden. His first industrial job was at a sawmill in Domsj&ouml; in 1979, but he then went to work that same year as a welder at the military and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer H&auml;gglunds and S&ouml;ner AB, now part of UK-based BAE Systems. He started his trade union activism as a shop steward, sector president and branch president.

IF Metall’s Board Elects Anders Ferbe to Replace Stefan Löfven

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The European Works Council (EWC) of Rio Tinto last week condemned the global minerals and metal producer for its unwarranted lockout of 780 Canadian members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Alma, Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
The intervention made by Rio&rsquo;s EWC Secretary V&eacute;ronique Roche from Paris comes at a time when the USW along with the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) are ramping up a campaign. Actions have been launched to bring attention and pressure on the multinational in support of aluminium smelter workers of Rio Tinto subsidiary Alcan, who were unjustly locked off their jobs on 1 January in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
A mass protest of Canadian and global trade unionists will take place in Alma &ndash; some 380 kilometres north of Alcan&rsquo;s headquarters in Montr&eacute;al &ndash; on 31 March. That will come a day after the ICEM North America Region holds its committee meeting in the region as a show of support for the victimised members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma, USW Local 9490. 
<img alt="" src="" width="239" height="160" />
photo: lapresse.ca
An initial thrust 11 days ago by ICEM and IMF global affiliates in the form of protest letters to Rio Tinto&rsquo;s President and CEO Tom Albanese saw a company response a day into the action: the company turned off its fax machines to avoid a deluge of written protests. 
 
The EWC intervention, however, is sure to resonate. Roche said the EWC has found that Rio Tinto Alcan management failed to even consider proposals made by the union, a &ldquo;destructive and socially irresponsible position.&rdquo; 
 
The 2 February letter added to Albanese: &ldquo;Please know that our European forum will stand alongside the United Steelworkers in all organised efforts in Europe and elsewhere, and we will participate in actions deemed necessary by the USW to repel this anti-social attack.&rdquo; 
 
The EWC then demanded that Rio Tinto end the lockout and order local management back to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair, equitable and acceptable labour agreement with workers that does not decimate the economic well-being of the community. (The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/lettre%20TOM%20ALBANESE%20ALMA%20FEV%202012%20engx.pdf ">full letter</a> can be read here.) 
 
The chief issue behind the lockout is Rio Tinto Alcan&rsquo;s desire to have unlimited outsourcing rights, something that would eventually half the wage base of the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region. Since Rio Tinto purchased Alcan in 2007 for US$39 billion, Alma management has replaced each worker taking retirement, or in other reductions in force, by outsourcing to sub-contractors who use low-wage staff without full social benefits. 
 
Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma tried to set a floor on full-time, direct employees in collective negotiations. Alcan refused and immediately locked out the unionised workforce on expiration of a prior five-year agreement. There is mounting proof that Rio Tinto Alcan is partially operating the 438,000-tonne facility with the use of scabs during the lockout, a prohibition under provincial Qu&eacute;bec labour statute and something the USW is pursuing through the legal system.

Rio Tinto’s Euro Works Council Irate over Québec Aluminium Lockout

<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
A 40-day strike in the US state of Massachusetts has ended. Ninety brave members of the ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) backed Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s CertainTeed subsidiary away from severe cuts to their health care plan, and ratified a five-year labour agreement by a 69-0 vote on 29 January. 
 
The workers, who make asphalt roofing shingles, gypsum wallboard and fiberglass products at a plant outside Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, returned to their jobs on 31 January with their heads held high, their pride intact, and most importantly their premium benefits package unsevered. 
 
CertainTeed management came at the members of IBT Local 25 late last year with a proposal to abandon the union&rsquo;s Health and Welfare Fund and replace it with an inferior company-managed plan. Such a plan would have left the workers with far fewer health care benefits, leaving them largely unprotected from illness or injury.
<img src="" width="154" height="160" alt="" />
Workers took strike action on 19 December and when the company refused to move from its regressive proposals in US federal mediation on 13 January, Norwood Teamsters expanded their strike. Besides working with the ICEM and French union CFDT to take the dispute directly to executives of Saint-Gobain in Paris, they began handbilling other non-Teamster and non-represented CertainTeed and Saint-Gobain plants in the US. 
 
&ldquo;Our members would not accept the company plan and made that loud and clear to us,&rdquo; said Local 25 Business Representative George Slicis. &ldquo;We were on the picket line for 40 days, 24/7, through the holidays and in bad weather, and we were not going back unless the Teamster health care plan went back with us.&rdquo; 
 
The 69-0 vote last Sunday made that an affirmative. In bargaining again supervised by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) on 26 January, CertainTeed backed off the takeaways. Although there will be a very slight increase in workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs for continuation of the premium health coverage of US$6-per-week, that will be more than offset with the union negotiating a US$500 bonus each in years one through four of the labour agreement. 
 
In addition, starting in year two, or late in 2012, and continuing in 2013, 2014 and 2015, workers will receive a 2% wage increase. Local 25 also won company-paid increases to the New England Teamsters Pension Fund of 10% in years one and two, and 6% each in the remaining years. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Local 25 members at CertainTeed for their resolve in maintaining their earned benefits package and also commends Jean-Francois Renucci of CFDT, who took the case to preserve the US workers&rsquo; health and welfare insurance to top Saint-Gobain leaders.

US Teamsters at Saint-Gobain Succeed in Retaining Premium Health Care

<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="63" />
A joint Executive Committee meeting of three European trade union federations on 31 January put the final touches on statutes, a political programme, and nominated candidates for leadership in what is to become a united eight-million-member industrial workers&rsquo; federation. The meeting, held near Mechelen, Belgium, was attended by 150 national union leaders from 25 nations. 
 
The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF), European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and the European Trade Union Federation for textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (ETUF-TCL) are now geared to formally merge on 16 May 2012 in Brussels, with dissolution Congresses coming a day earlier. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="74" />
The joint Executive decreed that the new federation will strive to become a fighting force for a dynamic economic framework that allows industry to thrive as the motor for jobs and sustainable growth across Europe. The three current federations vowed that &ldquo;social progress and the European social model cannot be sacrificed at the altar of ultra-liberal dogma.&rdquo; 
 
Although the new grouping has yet to formally adopt a name, its temporary moniker is the European Industrial Workers&rsquo; Federation (EIWF). 
 
Michael Vassiliadis, President of Germany&rsquo;s IGBCE, was nominated to serve as President, while current EMF General Secretary Ulrich Eckelmann was nominated to be General Secretary. Anders Ferbe of IF Metall, Sweden, Renzo Ambrosetti, UNIA, Switzerland, and Valeria Fedeli, CGIL FILCTEM, Italy, were nominated as Vice Presidents, while Sylvain Lefebvre, EMCEF, Bart Samyn, EMF, and Luc Triangle, ETUF-TCL, were nominated as Deputy General Secretaries. 
<img alt="" src="" width="165" height="140" />
Michael Vassiliadis
The new federation will consist of four policy committees &ndash; Collective Bargaining and Social Policy, Company Policy Committee, Industrial Policy Committee, and Social Dialogue Policy Committee. It will also be composed of eight regions: South, Benelux, Central, South-East, Eastern, British, Nordic/Baltic, and South-West.

Trade Union Industrial Federation Takes Shape for Europe

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="59" />
Stefan L&ouml;fven, President of Sweden&rsquo;s largest industrial union, IF Metall, was elected today by the Presidium of the Social Democratic Party as Chairman of the resurgent political party. L&ouml;fven was nominated yesterday, 26 January, by the party&rsquo;s Executive Committee to replace H&aring;kan Juholt, who resigned last weekend. 

In a congratulatory note sent by General Secretary Manfred Warda yesterday, the ICEM said, &ldquo;We cannot think of a better, more effective and progressive leader for Sweden.&rdquo; The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/9.ICEM%20Stefan%20Lofven.26Jan.pdf">full ICEM letter</a> can be found here. 

L&ouml;fven has been President of 355,000-member IF Metall since the union was formed on 1 January 2006 with the merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (Metall). Previously, he served as Vice President of Metall from 2002. The 55-year-old L&ouml;fven had been employed by that union since 1995, first as a national bargaining officer, then as Secretary, and from 1999 to 2002 as head of the Organising Department. 

&ldquo;With his very long and solid background in the trade union movement, Stefan will be an excellent leader of the Social Democratic Party,&rdquo; said IF Metall and ICEM Vice President Anders Ferbe. &ldquo;He has the power that can give stability and strength to our party.&rdquo; 

The Social Democratic Party had long been the dominant political party in Sweden, establishing the Nordic nation as a model of social fairness and justice both inside Sweden and throughout the world. But in consecutive elections in 2006 and 2010, the leftish party was dethroned and a center-right ruling coalition government took control. 

Warda, in his letter, pledged that the ICEM &ldquo;will stand with you in order that the Social Democratic Party once again not only leads Sweden, but continues to serve as the stellar social model for all the world to follow.&rdquo;
<img src="" width="140" height="45" alt="" />
L&ouml;fven was born in Stockholm but grew up in &Aring;dalen, &Aring;ngermanland, Sweden. His first industrial job was at a sawmill in Domsj&ouml; in 1979, but he then went to work that same year as a welder at the military and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer H&auml;gglunds and S&ouml;ner AB, now part of UK-based BAE Systems. He served as shop steward, sector president and branch president. 

Before his nomination was publicly announced by the Social Democrats&rsquo; Executive yesterday afternoon, he addressed staff of IF Metall, and said, &ldquo;I will keep my roots and my ideas about working life and social welfare for the benefit of all workers, not least of all the members of IF Metall.&rdquo;

IF Metall’s Löfven Takes Reigns of Sweden’s Social Democratic Party

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) disagrees with a decree issued by the Government of Northern Cyprus last night that effectively blocks a legitimate strike in the electricity sector by EL-SEN, ICEM&rsquo;s affiliated Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. 

EL-SEN launched the indefinite strike on the morning of 19 January over the government&rsquo;s draft bill to privatize the Turkish Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK). According to Article 16 of Collective Agreements and Strikes of Northern Cyprus, the government can suspend any strike for a 60-day period if it deems that the strike endangers the &ldquo;essential works&rdquo; of the country. After such suspension, the strike can continue but the government then has the option to postpone it again since the law allows the government to declare the strike illegal twice in a year. 

The ICEM considers the Northern Cypriot law as running opposite to norms contained in internationally recognized standards regarding the right to strike. 

&ldquo;We are very familiar with such anti-worker, anti-trade union practices in Turkey and now the same holds true in Northern Cyprus,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Postponing a strike is in effect to ban one.&rdquo; 

Although EL-SEN abided by last night&rsquo;s decree issued by the Northern Cypriot Council of Ministers, the union and its members will stay off their jobs as democratic right of civil disobedience. The ICEM communicated its support of that decision to EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu today. A similar strike by the telecommunications union TEL-SEN that began at the same time on 19 January continues. 

EL-SEN and ICEM believe the state-owned utility KIB-TEK is sustainable and can be transformed into a viable public utility with a more efficient management. The ICEM also believes that the Northern Cypriot government must engage more fully with EL-SEN and other stakeholders before pushing forward legislation to privatize KIB-TEK. 

Before the strike, ICEM had sent a letter to Prime Minister Irsen K&uuml;&ccedil;&uuml;k urging the government to withdraw the draft privatization bill. The ICEM sent a second letter today, 20 January, to the Prime Minister protesting the Cabinet of Ministers decree last night. 

The ICEM is a Geneva-based Global Union Federation representing 20 million workers through 255 trade unions in 94 countries. 
For further information, contact ICEM Information 
Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842, or +41 79 734 8994.

ICEM Protests Northern Cyprus Strike Ban in Energy Sector

<img alt="" height="40" src="" width="40" />

	In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, our forst of the New Year,&nbsp;we report on HIV and AIDS activities of ICEM trade union affiliates in Colombia, we reflect on some of the important issues that occurred in 2011 and we report on some reactions to the cancellation of Round 11.

	<img alt="" height="40" src="" width="40" />

	Colombia: HIV and AIDS Campaign in 2012 
	 
	During a seminar organised for ICEM affiliates in Colombia in December 2011, participants decided to declare 2012 a year to campaign against HIV and AIDS at the workplace. 
	 
	Although the virus does not yet constitute a big problem in Colombia, it does not mean that this will remain so in the future. Especially in the mining sector, workers are vulnerable to the transmission of the HIV virus. Affiliates in Colombia have therefore decided to give more importance to awareness and prevention at mining sites and in other companies organised by them. 
	 
	The seminar received technical assistance from the Fran&ccedil;ois Xavier Bagnoud Foundation and from Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, a Colombian coal mining company jointly owned by Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Xstrata, which operates one of the largest coal mines in the world. Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n provides HIV and AIDS services in several locations in the Department of Guajira, where the mine is located. 
	 
	Affiliates in Colombia representing all ICEM sectors will participate in the work which, among other things, includes reducing stigma and eliminating discrimination through agreements with employers.

	<img alt="" height="40" src="" width="40" />

	HIV and AIDS: Some Big Stories in 2011 
	 
	It was a roller coaster of a year regarding HIV and AIDS in 2011. AIDS turned 30 in 2011 and with new evidence of the effectiveness of HIV treatment as prevention, experts are increasingly talking about &quot;the end of AIDS.&quot; At the same time, however, funding for HIV has become ever more uncertain, jeopardizing efforts to put new, life-saving science into action. 
	 
	The first case of HIV was reported in 1981, and 2011 was a year of reflection on the growth of the epidemic and progress made in the fight against it. In 30 years, an estimated 30 million people have died, another 34 million are living with the virus and an estimated 7,000 new infections occur every day. An estimated 6.6 million people were on treatment globally by December 2010, but some nine million people who qualified for antiretrovirals (ARVs) did not receive them. 
	 
	Regarding ARVs as prevention, the little pills that turned HIV from a death sentence into a chronic condition could now help us prevent new HIV infections. In May, a large, randomized controlled trial found that earlier initiation of HIV treatment led to a 96% reduction in HIV transmission to the HIV-uninfected partner. 
	 
	Regarding funding, in November, poor funding forced the Global Fund to cancel its 11th round of funding (see ICEM e-bulletin 75, December 2011). The international financing mechanism is responsible for about 70% of HIV treatment in developing countries. Earlier in the year, a report showed that funding fell from US$7.6 billion in 2009 to US$6.9 billion in 2010 - the first time funding has dropped in more than a decade of tracking HIV/AIDS spending. Between 2002 and 2008, spending rose more than six-fold before levelling off in 2009. 
	 
	In April, stemming the virus experienced disappointing prevention trials when a three-country study, known as FEM-PrEP, was halted after daily doses of the ARV Truvada, used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), failed to prevent HIV infection in the women participating. 
	 
	The year 2011 also saw threats to generic ARVs. According to activists, the European Union (EU) last year continued to push for tougher intellectual property rules in its negotiations with India over the terms of a free trade agreement. India, known as the &ldquo;pharmacy of the developing world,&rdquo; produces the vast majority of generic ARVs used in developing countries. 
	 
	In July, Gilead Sciences became the first pharmaceutical company to sign a licensing agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool. The patent pool was established in 2010 by the international health financing mechanism, UNITAID, and aims to stimulate innovation and improve access to HIV medicines through the negotiation of voluntary licences on medicine patents that enable generic competition and facilitate the development of new formulations. The agreement allows for the production of several of Gilead&#039;s HIV medicines (see the piece below on Johnson &amp; Johnson). 
	 
	The UN also set new target levels last year. &quot;Zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths&quot; was the bold new goal set during the UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS in June. The meeting concluded with the adoption of a declaration that seeks, by 2015, to double the number of people on ARVs to 15 million, end mother-to-child transmission of HIV, halve tuberculosis-related deaths in people living with HIV, and increase preventive measures for the &quot;most vulnerable populations.&quot; 
	 
	(Source: Plus News, Nairobi/Johannesburg, 29 December 2011) 

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	Reactions to the Global Fund Cancelling Round 11 
	 
	The Global Fund&rsquo;s decision to do away with Round 11 is &ldquo;short-sighted&rdquo; because it comes at a time when science had shown that the end of HIV/AIDS is &ldquo;within our grasp.&rdquo; This was the view expressed by the Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF), the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in the days after the Global Fund Board moved to cancel Round 11 and announce tough new rules for grant renewals. 
	 
	In a statement released on 23 November, Health GAP referred to &ldquo;game changing&rdquo; new scientific findings that HIV treatment not only saves lives, it reduces the risk of sexual transmission of HIV transmission by 96%. Further funding would have enabled scale-up of lifesaving treatment and prevention services for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria to millions of poor people in developing countries. 
	 
	MSF said that on the ground in hard-hit countries where it works, the devastating effects of the overall funding crunch are becoming apparent. For example, MSF said, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is already severely capping the number of people able to start on ARVs, and other countries are facing a shortage of ARVs. MSF pointed out the shocking incongruence between both the new HIV science and political promises on one hand, and the funding reality that is now hitting the ground on the other. 
	 
	ITPC said that the lack of political and financial commitment to the AIDS response is &ldquo;deeply worrisome.&rdquo; It said that &ldquo;the millions of people living with and fighting against these deadly diseases will pay an enormous price. Rather than building on the new evidence that AIDS treatment saves lives and prevents new infections, and ramping up treatment programmes to try to end this epidemic, donor governments are now implicitly supporting a policy of triage, determining who lives and who dies. ITPC said that the shortfall in funding for the Global Fund is &ldquo;an insignificant amount in comparison to the bank bailouts made by the U.S. and European governments.&rdquo; 
	 
	The International HIV/AIDS Alliance said news that the Global Fund Board had decided to cancel Round 11 has devastated civil society organisations across the Alliance&rsquo;s global partnership. 
	 
	In an article that appeared in the newswire service Reuters, a coalition of AIDS activist organisations said that southern African countries, hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, are likely to be most affected by the situation at the Global Fund. The coalition said that countries that rely heavily on Global Fund aid, including Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, are expected to see increasing fatalities and infections as a result of funding shortfalls. 
	 
	Organisations and individuals are being urged to sign a Call for Action demanding that the Global Fund and its Board mobilise the necessary resources to create a new funding opportunity in 2012 in the amount of US$2 billion. The Call to Action is being organised by a number of concerned civil society activists. Organisations and individuals can indicate their support for the Call by writing to Jacqueline Wittebrood of International Civil Society Support, at <a href="mailto:jw@icssupport.org">jw@icssupport.org</a>. The Call to Action demands that the Global Fund hold an emergency donor conference and issue a new call for proposals before the International AIDS Conference in July 2012. 
	 
	Elsewhere, Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World and former United Nations&rsquo; special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, gave an excellent speech at Yale University in the US regarding the Global Fund&rsquo;s cancellation. That speech, presented 28 November 2011, can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1201.Stephen_Lewis_Aids_Free_World.pdf">here and it is well worth reading</a>. 
	 
	(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 169 of 5 December. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 

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	Laos: Looming Threat of Increase in HIV Prevalence 
	 
	Out of a total population of 6.3 million, the national prevalence in Laos of 0.2% among 15-49-year-olds puts the 8,500 reported HIV/AIDS cases there nearly a decade behind that of its neighbours. Thailand&#039;s HIV prevalence is at 1.3%, or more than half a million people living with HIV; Cambodia&rsquo;s is estimated at 0.6%, translating to nearly 70,000 people living with HIV. 
	 
	There are 1,600 people on ARV treatment in Laos and the number is expected to jump to 7,000 by 2015, according to the government. As the country increasingly opens its borders, health workers are bracing for a potential concentrated and catastrophic outbreak in a country where HIV prevention is not yet a priority. 
	 
	The concern is an emerging epidemic among at-risk populations. Among men who have sex with men and sex workers in concentrated areas like Vientiane, the reported prevalence is above 5%. Nationwide, there are at least 11,000 high-frequency sex workers, 50,000 men who have sex with men and 40,000 amphetamine-type stimulant users, including 1,600 injecting drug users. 
	 
	The global recession has left health workers wondering what will happen to the country&#039;s US$43 million Global Fund HIV/AIDS grant, $24 million of which has been disbursed since 2003 to the government. The HIV grant in Laos is up for review in June 2012. Because of its financial problems, the Global Fund will finance only essential services of ongoing programmes that end before 2014. 
	 
	(Source: Plus News, Vientiane, 2 December 2011) 

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	Swaziland: Activism over Failing Health Care System 
	 
	Swaziland&rsquo;s deepening financial crisis is taking a toll on service delivery and the country is experiencing an unprecedented number of protests. A new wave of activism is rising in Swaziland as people living with HIV take to the streets in protest, many of them for the first time in their lives, over continued shortages of antiretroviral treatment. 
	 
	More than a quarter of adult Swazis are living with HIV and about 47,000 people nationwide were on ARVs at the end of 2009, according to UNAIDS, while an estimated 90,000 are in need of treatment. 
	 
	In 2010, the Swazi government announced that it would take over funding for all ARVs from the Global Fund but lack of money, partly due to reduced revenues from the Southern Africa Customs Union and also attributable to the extravagant spending of the royal household, led to the 2011 shortages. The country is calling on donors to come to its aid. In August 2011, the US President&rsquo;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) gave the country US$7 million in emergency funding, but this was only for first-line ARVs. 
	 
	(Source: IRIN/Plus News, Mbabane, 13 December) 

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	Johnson &amp; Johnson Refuses to Licence Drug Patents 
	 
	Despite continuing to earn record profits and a company credo that calls for putting patients first, on 19 December, the American pharmaceutical and health products giant Johnson &amp; Johnson continued to turn its back on people living with HIV/AIDS in many developing countries by telling the Medicines Patent Pool it refuses to license its patents on the three lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs &ndash; rilpivirine, darunavir and etravirine. 
	 
	Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders/M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF) has been urging Johnson &amp; Johnson, and other companies holding HIV drug patents, to take this critical step of joining the Pool. The Pool would license patents on HIV drugs to other manufacturers and the resulting competition would dramatically reduce prices, making them much more affordable in the developing world and allow new combination medicines. 
	 
	In refusing to join the Medicines Patent Pool, Johnson &amp; Johnson says there is no urgency for making these drugs widely available in developing countries. That is simply not true. MSF now provides treatment to more than 180,000 people living with HIV worldwide, and is beginning to witness the inevitable, natural phenomenon of treatment failure, whereby people develop resistance to the drugs they are taking and need to graduate to newer medicines. 
	 
	Furthermore, rilpivirine, darunavir and etravirine were identified among the key drug formulations needed for HIV treatment by the Medicines Patent Pool, UNITAID and the World Health Organization&rsquo;s HIV/AIDS Department. Although Johnson &amp; Johnson is already engaging in voluntary licensing with some generic companies, the company decided against taking the extra step of joining the Pool to improve access for people living with HIV. In saying no to the Medicines Patent Pool, Johnson &amp; Johnson has made a conscious, wilful decision to turn its back on people living with HIV in the developing world. 
	 
	There are now more than six million people receiving lifesaving HIV treatment worldwide. This did not happen because individual companies lowered their prices for specific countries or worked out exclusive deals with certain generic companies, which is what Johnson &amp; Johnson is doing with their newest HIV medicines. Antiretroviral treatment was made more accessible because of competition among many generic companies which helped bring prices down by 99%, from US$10,000 per patient per year to roughly US$150 per patient per year. 
	 
	(Source: Website of the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF) 

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	News from Global Unions 
	 
	The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>), dedicates the entire issue its latest HIV/AIDS update 117 of 15 December to the feedback they received from affiliates of activities on World AIDS Day.

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	Five Years Ago: From the January 2007 Issue (No. 16) 
	 
	The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
	 
	In the January 2007 issue of the ICEM e-bulletin, we reported on the Regional Workshop in Johannesburg in December 2006. The workshop was the fourth in a series of workshops held in the framework of the HIV/AIDS projects for the African region during the 2005-2006 project cycle. It followed two workshops for national coordinators in 2005 (on initiation and strategies and developing the collective bargaining manual) and one earlier in 2006 on peer education. 
	 
	The objectives of the workshop were: to identify immediate targets for fundraising, to build arguments on co-investment, to develop own workplace programmes and to write HIV/AIDS projects. The workshop was based on website research and project identification and project writing in small groups. 
	 
	On fundraising for HIV/AIDS activities, it was stressed that funding sources are decentralised. Partnerships have to be built at national and international level and &ldquo;friendly technicians&rdquo; have to be found to help in the development of proposals as unions lack the capacity to work with non-traditional methods and arguments (public/private partnerships, co-investment). The working of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was explained. The need to have unions on the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) was emphasised. 
	 
	We also informed on a report, Strengthening Resistance: Confronting Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS. Women in both the global South and North face not only staggering rates of HIV infection, but also unabated levels of violence, whether at the hands of male partners, police, or community members. When women are, or are even perceived to be HIV positive, they are at risk of violence, discrimination and other human rights violations. And when women are sexually assaulted, whether in conflict situations or in their homes, they are at risk of contracting HIV. UNAIDS estimated at the time that there were 17.7 million women living with HIV.

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	This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
	 
	To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 76, January 2012

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